Everywhere I look on the internet, from social media sites to legitimate news websites, I see a trend - ‘articles’ written as ‘Top Lists’. Within minutes, I found the following on Linkedin - 5 Deadly Sins of Leadership, 7 Leadership Lessons for CEO's, 4 Big Mistakes You've Made in Your Career This Year. I jumped over to MSN where they are notorious for ‘picture articles’ like 9 Adventures you need to Try this Winter - it’s more picture than article, it’s a simple flip chart. You just press the arrow and the next picture pops up with a small sentence or two of what it is. Next I jumped over to two reputable news websites and right next to the serious news of the day, you can very easily find top list articles at ABC News - 5 Thanksgiving Health Hazards to Avoid and the Huffington Post websites - Best Cat Videos of the Month.

Top Lists are everywhere! Don’t believe me, take a look yourself. It’s out of control so I thought I would share the Top 7 reasons why I hate Top Lists just like this one.

7. The Number Chosen is Completely Random

There’s no rhyme nor reason to the amount of items listed or the order they’re in. The number has more to do with how many the person writing the article can think of. For instance, I had originally titled this the Top 5 reasons but I thought of two more as I was writing this, so now it’s the Top 7.

6. ‘Top’ or ‘Biggest’ or ‘Best’ is Nothing More Than the Opinion of the Person Writing the Article

There’s no real proof that these are in fact the top items. It’s not like the person writing it performed some kind of opinion polling or surveys. Face it, no one writing these top lists are even reaching the low bar set by the producers of the Family Feud Game Show who at least survey 100 people.

5. They Steal Your Time

I get sucked into reading the article only to find myself falling down the dreaded internet surfing ‘rabbit hole’. By the time I look up, I realize I lost 30 (or more) minutes.

4. There’s More People Writing Articles and Fewer People with Real Opinions

Fewer and fewer people are willing to stick their neck out and have a real opinion. It seems there are few good writers and even fewer that have an opinion that could actually upset people. It helps me appreciate writers with an opinion like James Altucher and Seth Godin.

3. They Don’t Offer Advice to Make the Change

These lists always fall short on how to accomplish making the change. The person writing the article shares their list but doesn’t share any step by step ‘how to’ for us ‘average people’ to become part of the ‘Top’.

2. I Have No Idea if the Person Writing the Piece is an Expert on the Topic

For all I know, the person may have just read 10 other similar Top Lists and rewrote it in their words (or just plain plagiarized the best pieces of each one).

1. Because They’re so Darn Addictive!

I’m like the criminal in the Clint Eastwood movie Dirty Harry staring up the barrel of the .44 magnum as Dirty Harry goes on that diatribe about being unsure of how many bullets he has remaining in his gun and asks the criminal “Do you feel lucky punk?” Well, that’s how I feel about these Top Lists. I have to read them because, “I gots to know!”